Australian Grand Prix
The '''LCR Australian Grand Prix '''is an online league race based in Australia. So far, all runnings of this event have been held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit at Albert Park, Melbourne. The race has been held in all F1-based LCR Seasons to date. As is the case with most racing leagues, Australia is typically the first race of the season, due to its current status as such in the real world Formula 1 World Championship. The only exception to this being Season 2, where the race was instead the third round of the championship, since the calendar order was decided by a driver vote. As a result of its status as first round of the season, the Australian Grand Prix also held the first ever LCR race on September 5th, 2016 (won by trapter1). At the time the league had no name. As with most races in LCR history, the Australian Grand Prix has no repeat winners in terms of drivers or teams. The most recent race, the LCR Australian Grand Prix III, was won by TOR Leopard in the Red Bull (the team's first LCR win since Russia I), with Australian driver iFendz in second, and Season 2 champion TOR PePsii in third. History Season 1 The Australian Grand Prix I marked the first ever LCR race. The league had slowly been pieced together in the preceding weeks, including team selection, day and time, and the calendar (which would follow all 21 rounds of the 2016 Formula 1 season). The race was originally scheduled to take place on Sunday September 4th, but did not occur for unknown reasons. It wasn't until the next day, on Monday, September 5th at 3pm UK time, when the event officially began. McLaren driver trapter1 qualified on pole position, before going on a commanding drive to win the race. FlyingFinn866 finished second, but was later demoted behind his Williams teammate Apex Melvyn in third, due to picking up a 3-second penalty during the race. It was decided to run the second round of the championship, the Bahrain Grand Prix I immediately following this race. As such, both races have the distinction of being the only LCR races held on the same day, as well as the only races held on a Monday. Season 2 The Season 2 event is notable for being the third round of the season, following on from Austria and Great Britain. The race itself was marred by connection issues; 11 drivers started a race in which only 5 would finish. Ultimately it was won by Ferrari driver Lyracrish after he started 7th on the grid with an alternate strategy. Force India's FlyingFinn866 and Renault's Jpoole28 joined him on the podium. Following this race, FlyingFinn866 moved to a vacant seat in Ferrari, ultimately giving the Maranello outfit the equivalent of a 1-2 finish in terms of points scored (since points carry over when drivers move teams). However, this is not officially recognised as a 1-2 finish, as Finn was in the Force India for the race. Season III The Australian Grand Prix once again returned to being the first race of the championship for LCR Season III. This was the first F1 race officially held under the LCR banner, as the league was renamed from LRL following Season 2's conclusion. This race marked the LCR debut of Red Bull drivers TOR Leopard and DrizzetsRevenge. The former would get pole position by just 0.013s, a league record, before going on to win the race, becoming the third driver to win their LCR debut (after trapter1 and TOR PePsii). Revenge managed to finish 5th, despite pitting once more than the majority of the field, earning the fastest lap along the way. For the first time in LCR, an Australian drove their home grand prix. After qualifying second, iFendz would lead the race for a number of laps before being caught in traffic after pitting. The Force India driver would go on to finish second by seven seconds, missing out on earning two victories in a row after winning the Belgian Grand Prix II. Toro Rosso driver and Season 2 champion TOR PePsii finished the race in third, breaking the record for most podiums in a row, and continuing the distinction of finishing every LCR appearance on the podium. Winners By Season